


Fever

by Prawnperson



Category: Futurama
Genre: Bender is a good bf, Caring, Cuddling, Hurt/Comfort, Illness, M/M, Sickness, ooc but for a reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 01:04:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16964814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prawnperson/pseuds/Prawnperson
Summary: Fry is sick. Badly sick.





	Fever

“You mean this happens to you all the time?”

Bender asks, optics drawn to portray a concerned expression. Fry nods, miserable, and presses his cheek into the cool part of the pillow. Bender places the palm of his hand across his forehead and Fry sighs contently, leaning up into the soothing touch.

“You’re a little over...normal temperature....”

He tries to pretend he knows what he’s doing but he really doesn’t. Fry sniffles and his face suddenly goes pale as he swallows hard. Bender can’t mask his surprise whenever Fry leans over the side of the couch a few seconds later and promptly upchucks into the big red basin he’d asked him to put beside him. He rubs over the human’s back in a way he hopes is comforting as he wretches into the bucket before going limp in his grasp, slumped over and coughing weakly every few seconds. Bender grimaces and takes the basin from him.

“Sorry...”

Fry mutters, sniffing again with a horrible sound. Bender looks at the container in his hands, unsure of what to do, and decides it might be for the best if he just throws it out the window for someone else to deal with. So he does. He hears a few screams from the street below but ignores them in favour of helping Fry sit straight up from his nest of blankets.

“Don’t be sorry, Fry. It...happens.”

It feels weird to be nice, makes him feel vulnerable, but Bender can see how much Fry needs help, or more specifically, needs him to help. He brushes a strand of hair away from his damp forehead, trying to do it gently.

“Tell you what, you go get clean and I’ll fix stuff up in here, ‘Kay?”

Fry gives him a wobbly smile before shakily getting up and limping to the bathroom. Bender cautiously watches to make sure nothing happens to him on the way before trying to arrange the couch in some way that isn’t infectious. He crumples up the old blankets littered on it, but just as he’s about to throw them to the side, he feels a weird instinct pang somewhere deep in his circuitry. Something that feels half pre-programmed, but also alarmingly natural, caring. He stares at the blanket in his hand and his hands move almost on auto pilot, and he finds himself actually folding something into a neat square.

Whenever Fry emerges from the bathroom around fifteen minutes later, feeling a little better now that he’s in clean pyjamas and his mouth’s rinsed out, as well as washing his face and generally trying to perk himself up, he’s met with an incredibly unusual sight.

The small front room in their apartment is actually clean, or at least, clean for them. The walls are still covered with miscellaneous stains, but the floor is clear from empty slurm cans and old pizza boxes. The couch is laid out with fresh sheets, and Fry wonders for a second or two where on earth they kept those. It doesn’t really matter though, and he walks over to where Bender’s standing next to the TV.

“You did all this for me?”

He asks, a small smile creeping onto his face. Bender averts his gaze and directs him towards the sofa. Fry gingerly sits on the edge before the robot presses him down by the shoulders. Fry finds his head resting comfortably on one of the big pillows from their bedroom and he nuzzles into it, flushing a little whenever he feels himself getting tucked in cosily by cool metallic hands. 

“Do you wanna sleep or do you wanna watch TV?”

Bender asks, smoothing the blankets over his chest, the small protective mechanism in him still ticking over. 

“...Tv, please?”

Bender nods and flicks on their box, met by Calculon yelling into the endless grey skies of a cardboard background. Fry chuckles and sips at his water-when did he get water?- again, he finds himself unable to be disturbed and instead gulps down the rest of this drink. Bender watches from the corner of his eye, and when he’s finished he takes the glass from him and puts it on the table beside him. He touches Fry’s forehead again and lets out a sound of approval, seemingly happy with his current body heat.

He still feels the bizarre urge to nurture Fry, but in all honesty, he feels more like he’s taking over independently now, getting Fry water every few commercial breaks and making sure he actually blows his nose rather than just sniffing the germs back into his system, and despite the fact it goes against his nature, almost mortifyingly so, he finds himself enjoying playing the role of his squishy friend’s caretaker.

“You seem a little better, but we’re not going into work until Monday, alright? We’ll make it a long weekend.”

Fry smiles at him and Bender brushes his hair away from his face again, combing through his cowlick with his stubby fingers. The ginger lets out a great sigh of appreciation as Bender zaps his mouthplate gently against his cheek before moving back to sit on the arm of the chair, still playing with his hair.

“You feelin’ any better, baby?”

Bender punctuates it with another soft shock on the lips. Another reason why robots are superior to every human (bar one) he thinks, their ability to keep up physical affections with their partners no matter how ill they may be. Fry’s freckled face still looks a little player than usual, and his nose is still red, but he does look considerably less like a corpse than he did this morning.

“Yeah. I’d feel much better with a few cuddles, though...”

Bender rolls his eyes but still climbs in behind Fry to spoon him, back presses tight against the back of the tight squeeze of the couch. It’s a little cramped, but Fry seems comfortable, laughing at random intervals whenever all my circuits chooses to ax another of its many disposable characters, so Bender’s happy enough and he leaves it at that.


End file.
